Broken to Beautiful
Jennifer Graves
Someday I’m supposed to be a window. I often look at other windows to see how I want to be. Do I want to be big or small, round or square?
I’m different, though. You see, a long time ago, the bigger people overlooked my ‘Handle With Care’ sign and shattered me into many pieces. After I was all broken, they threw all these colors on me. I’ve tried to wash them off, but I’m sad to say I don’t think those colors will ever go away.
I don’t even see how all my pieces will ever fit together to make a window like all the other ones. There’s no one who could possibly match up all my broken pieces.
But I have good news! One day I picked up all my pieces and brought them before the Master Window Maker himself.
I was kind of embarrassed, but He said He already knew and it was okay to show him. So I slowly began laying down my pieces, ashamed of the many different colors.
You know what? My Master didn’t laugh or get angry for what I showed him. Instead, He slowly picked me up, held me in His arms, and told me how much He loved me.
“But you don’t understand. I will never become a window. I’m too broken, and I have so many different colors that I’d be no good anyway, because you can’t see through me.”
Instead of answering me quickly, He silently began looking through a large book. When he came across my name, He showed me the picture on that page.
“Someday, my Dear Little One, you are going to grow and be fitted to be this window.”
As I sat looking down at the picture, tears came to my eyes. It was the most beautiful window I had ever seen.
“You mean I’m really going to be this beautiful?”
By the smile on His face, I knew that someday I really was going to look like the picture. He says I’ll even be prettier than the picture.
He went on to explain to me that those kinds of windows are called Stained Glass Windows. He said that each different color represents a hurt in my life, but that was what was going to make me so beautiful. I never knew that so many broken, different-colored pieces of glass could ever become so beautiful.
I won’t be like all the other windows, or even the window I thought I wanted to be. That’s okay because the Master knew all along, even when I was being broken and colored, that someday I would be a most beautiful Stained Glass Window.
Sometimes I get impatient to grow up, but the Master says He works slowly at perfecting each piece. He says that it is going to take time and may hurt a little, because I have a lot of jagged edges he needs to smooth and many pieces to melt together.
He asked me if I still wanted to be a window. I told him that He can do whatever it takes to make me that beautiful Stained Glass Window.
I know sometimes when He starts to smooth out the edges and melt my pieces together, I might wonder if its really worth it, but my Master promised that at any time, He’ll open His book and show me the finished product again.
One day people will walk by and ask how I ever became so beautiful. I’ll tell them that I gave all my broken pieces that I gathered through the years to the Master Window Maker and gave Him full control to do whatever He desired. It’s the only way to be as beautiful as you were designed to be.